Borderless Satun Thailand

Borderless Satun Thailand

We often heard about Thai border towns like Golok and Dannok but many might never heard of Satun. Yes, it’s Satun and not Saturn, please. It shares the border of town Wang Kelian of Malaysian state Perlis.

The uniqueness of Satun and Wang Kelian is it is borderless and you don’t need a passport to enter both towns. It is an agreement made by Malaysia and Thailand for years and it benefited both countries economically.

The Satun province is located on the Malay Peninsula, on the shore of the Andaman Sea. It is separated from Songkhla Province by the Nakhon Si Thammarat mountain range, and from Malaysia by the Sankalakhiri mountains.

The Ko Tarutao and Ko Phetra marine national parks are part of the province. Close to the border with Malaysia is the Thale Ban National Park, a big freshwater swamp area. – Wikipedia.org

I was there late last year with Santai Travel Magazine and a group local media representatives and bloggers. With was 3bittersweetlemon.blogspot.com and annna.net. It was a 3D 2N trip to Perlis organized by Santai Travel Magazine and sponsored by Tourism Malaysia Perlis. It was my first official local travel trip to Perlis and I had fun.

We had a lengthy briefing at the Immigration Office at the Satun border. I’m not going to elaborate on that.

We walked over to the Thai side without any documents as I mentioned. It was just like crossing to the opposite side of the road.

As usual when we entered Satun, we were immediately hit by the “Thai effect” as stalls were selling Thai products and Thai food.

A little bit quick history of Satun. Satun was part of the Kedah state before it handed to the Siam (Thailand) as part of Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909.

For that, majority of residents in Satun are Muslims. Thus, most of the food in Satun is cooked by Muslims for Muslims.

One of the unique food must try is their glutinous rice (nasi pulut) with fried chicken. Like it or not, the combination actually blends well together.

Forget Chatime or Gongcha, try the local Satun own mixed drinks. These colourful drinks are commonly sweet and locals’ favourites.

If you always fancy with roti canai, try the Thai’s version of roti canai.

Thai’s version of roti canai is crispy and sweet. Pan fried with butter to crispiness and topped with sweet condensed milk, their version of roti canai can be addictive but beware, you might end up with sugar rush at the end of the day. Hence, you can always tone down on the sweetness when you order.

Food stall traders never stop impressed me in Satun. Check this out. It is a homemade waffle maker.

You choose and pick your own flavour for your waffle. This was delicious.

An hour in Satun was not enough. Should I rephrase, time is never enough in Thailand. It was sad to leave Amazing Thailand but it was good to go back to Malaysia Truly Asia. Lastly we thank Santai Magazine and Tourism Malaysia Perlis for the invite and the trip.